Electronics

[KathyPet]

I get the basic theory behind it but it seems to me it would,cost a small,fortune to upgrade all the essential elements of your home to make it a Smart HOme.  FRom what I can tell all the working parts that operate your home must be replaced with new units that work with this technology.  YOu need a new thermostat, new ceiling fans, new door locks, new garage door openers, new light fixtures and special bulbs and heavens knows what else to retrofit your home.  IF you are not especially handy you have to hire,someone to install and connect all this stuff.  YOu are talking thousands of dollars here.  seriously can someone explain what the purpose is behind this.  I understand that you would achieve some electrical power savings but it would take you years to recoup the expense of all this new technology.  I read recently that the American consumers are not rushing to embrace this new technology and after looking at what is required to implement the Smart Home technology I can understand why

[hckynut]

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@KathyPet wrote:

I get the basic theory behind it but it seems to me it would,cost a small,fortune to upgrade all the essential elements of your home to make it a Smart HOme.  FRom what I can tell all the working parts that operate your home must be replaced with new units that work with this technology

You need a new thermostat, new ceiling fans, new door locks, new garage door openers, new light fixtures and special bulbs and heavens knows what else to retrofit your home.  IF you are not especially handy you have to hire,someone to install and connect all this stuff.  YOu are talking thousands of dollars here.  seriously can someone explain what the purpose is behind this.  

I understand that you would achieve some electrical power savings but it would take you years to recoup the expense of all this new technology.  I read recently that the American consumers are not rushing to embrace this new technology and after looking at what is required to implement the Smart Home technology I can understand why

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@KathyPet

I did not build my Home Theater Video and Audio System in 1 buying spree. I built it component by component over several years. As newer technology and formats began being introduced, I sold my older ones and upgraded to the newer.

Much like my Race Cars. I did not start at the fastest class, I worked my way up over years, as I gained experience and had more disposable income. I'm thinking most get my point and explanation.

hckynut(john)

[Desertdi]

People tell me I'm "behind the times"....................      I tell them that I won't be living in the county nursing home, either.....................

[Moonchilde]

Unless you're building a new house or renovating, I doubt people typically spend the money to "do it all" all at once. I imagine working households find it more desirable - nice to be able to turn the lights on and off at will, open the garage & turn on the lights at the same time, turn the heat or a/c off and on, unlock the door, etc. but they probably change one thing at a time to see if they like it and how often they use it. If they find it really convenient to their lifestyle & it makes their lives easier, they'll find the money bit by bit.

If you're building a house or remodeling, it's built into the cost.

[Allegheny]

@KathyPet

I agree with you.  I might consider encompassing some of the smart technology products into an existing home, but it seems to me for it truly to be efficient all systems have to work together and allow for future advancement. 

[glb613]

I looked into the Nest thermostat and decided I can turn the heat up and down for a lot less than $249.  I consider myself to be a real gadgetgal but, I'm not going to spend money on something that really doesn't do much for me.  I have lights on timers, dusk to dawn outside fixtures or light bulbs, remote controls for my TVs and ceiling fans on switches and pull chains.  Now if they come up with smart home products that cooks, cleans and does laundry, I'm in. 

[Nightowlz]

We just bought the Nest Smoke/CO2 Detector. I'm going to buy the Nest Thermostat also. I'm going to wait & see if they offer $50 off coupon over any of the summer holidays. If they don't I will just buy it. I like the fact that if I have a CO2 leak the detector will turn off my thermostat or heater. When we travel I can turn on the heat or air before we get home or while we are away. It will be nice next winter when I get cold or hot & I can tell it to change the temp. If we have a fire we would be notified on my ipad or phone. I will probably buy Alexa or Google Home to work with it. I don't have any of the light bulbs. Right now we have those on timers. I have ceiling fans in every room & won't be changing those. The one in the living area & master bedroom have remote controls. I doubt we will be changing any door locks for now either. Garage door opener is another thing. When we need one we will see what's out there. Right now I just press a button on my mirror in my car to open it. We will buy what works for us.

[gardenman]

The modern wireless smart home devices are pretty neat, but the older way of hard wiring eveything up with every outlet and switch being home-run back to a central control panel always struck me as being absurd. Those systems required miles (literally) of wire to wire a home and were insanely expensive. And if that central control panel had an issue (and they often did) you were out of a fortune to repair/replace it.

I suspect we'll see an evolution taking place in the very near future where the technology used in Microsoft's Kinect sensor is deployed in every room of a house and given control of the house. The Kinect sensor system can identify individuals by appearance and the possibilities of that are pretty impressive. If those sensors were deployed throughout a home, the system could automatically turn on lights as you moved through a house, watch what you were doing and adjust the lighting accordingly. If you sit down and pick up a book or magazine it could adjust the lighting so it was good for reading in whatever chair/sofa you were on. If you picked up the TV remote it could determine that and adjust the lighting for ideal TV watching. If you walked out of the house it could lower the heat and adjust the lighting to a vacant status. 

If there are multiple people in the house it could adjust the temperature for each individual's liking in the room they're in. If a stranger comes in it could attempt to determine if they're a burglar or a guest and respond accordingly. The sensors could be constantly monitoring the systems of the house and report any fire, CO2 or other issues. 

I suspect that's the future of home automation. If you've got a few million to spend on the prototyping and software development, the hardware exists now to make it a modern day reality. Enough of those sensors deployed around your home could identify your car coming, open the garage door, unlock and even open your doors as you enter. They could turn on the lights ahead of you and turn them off behind you. They could even flush the toilet for you when you get up off of it.

With technology that's capable of recognizing individuals and responding to their actions, there's nothng that's beyond the imagination. A modern home employing such technology could end up operating much like the Star ship Enterprise in Star Trek with the house responding to your every move or comment. If you say, "Brr, it's chilly today," the house would hear it, analyze it and adjust the heat/humidity accordingly. It could run your bath/shower water for you at your preferred temperature as you get undressed to take a bath/shower.  There's pretty much nothing you could ask for that such a system couldn't achieve. All of the hardware necessary for such a system exists now. Putting it all together to make it work would be a challenge, but the tech is there. Developing all of the software necessary to make it work might be a year or two away, but that's likely where the future lies.

[Nightowlz]

@gardenman I would have to bypass the lights. I don't want the lights going on/off as I enter/exit a room. I don't like bright light & have it turned way down.

I don't know how it would know how to adjust lights if I was watching TV & DH was reading. He always has to use one of those clip lights because I have the lights turned down. I have to get rid of the light at night before I can go to sleep.